Complete HarpWeek Explanation:In this cartoon, Secretary of War William Howard Taft and President Theodore Roosevelt find that the trial balloon for Taft’s presidential candidacy is caught in the thorny problem of Senator Joseph Foraker of Ohio. Foraker had announced that he would not seek another term in the U.S. Senate in return for a favorite-son endorsement from the Ohio delegation to the 1908 Republican National Convention. His presidential candidacy was backed by Ohio’s junior senator, Charles Dick; the state’s lieutenant governor (and future president), Warren G. Harding; and George Cox, “boss” of the Republican machine in Cincinnati. Meanwhile, Roosevelt was allowing Taft to control patronage with an eye to the nomination, which Senator Dick was trying to thwart from his position on the postal committee. When Foraker refused to withdraw from the race, Taft personally lobbied other Ohio politicians so that on February 11, 1908, the cabinet officer won the GOP primaries in 36 of the state’s 38 counties. In March, the Ohio State Republican Convention endorsed Taft for president, and Foraker resumed his senatorial campaign (until the Standard Oil scandal forced him out that fall).